“I won’t. Then we can come out and get a bite. There are plenty of restaurants around here.”
Together they entered the aquarium, and were soon gazing with interested eyes at the porpoise, which was kept in one of the large central tanks. Around the walls of the place were other tanks, with the light coming in from the top in such a way that the fish were plainly visible. There was a new exhibit of fishes from Bermudian waters, and looking at them after having watched the porpoise for some time, Ned remarked:
“Well, Frank, if we are ever lucky enough to get on a battleship that’s sent to Bermuda, I suppose we’ll see such fish as these in their native waters.”
“Yes, it would be great!” agreed Frank, and as he spoke he noticed that a man standing near him and his brother looked at them in a peculiar and sharp manner. Frank did not like the looks of the fellow, and he was even less pleased when the man moved a little nearer and addressed them.
“Are you lads from some ship?” he asked. “If you are, shake! I’m from the Kentucky myself, on shore leave, and it does my heart good to meet a couple of the boys in blue. What’s your berth?”
“We haven’t any,” Frank said, hoping to pass the matter off lightly and leave the man, for he did not like his face or manner.
“Excuse me,” the fellow went on, “but I thought I heard youse say something about a battleship—”
“Oh, that was just talk,” broke in Ned, more open and ingenuous than his brother. “We’ve been talking of getting on a battleship for some time, but I don’t suppose we ever shall.”
“Well, it’s a great life, believe me!” exclaimed the man. “I’ve put in eight years of it. Hard work, but lots of fun, too. I’ve seen these fish swimming around so thick that you’d think there wasn’t enough water for ’em,” and he waved his hand—not a very clean hand, Frank thought—toward a tank of angel fish.
“Have you been in Bermuda?” asked Ned, eagerly.